Parish Accused Of A Trespass

Episcopal Diocese Sues To Get Bristol Church

The Rev. Donald Helmandollar has become accustomed to the refrain he hears when he greets parishioners outside Trinity Episcopal Church in Bristol each Sunday: ``I see we're here for another week.''

Their weeks there may be numbered now that the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut has sued Helmandollar and 10 members of the church's governing body, accusing them of trespassing on church property.

Helmandollar's parish voted itself out of the Episcopal Church this year, but has not left the church buildings. Helmandollar says the parish was part of the Anglican Communion long before the diocese existed and should retain the church property now that it has aligned with another Anglican group.

But the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut claims the buildings and other property -- including parish records, bank accounts, furniture, and objects used in worship -- as its own, and when Trinity did not vacate them by a diocese-set deadline last month, the diocese turned to legal action.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to force the parish out of the building, as well as punitive damages.

Helmandollar said the parish plans to rebut the lawsuit's assertions. The lawsuit was no surprise, he said, but the idea that church leaders would use a lawsuit to resolve the issue still struck an emotional chord.

``It just feels kind of strange to be sued personally, for myself and my vestry members, by your church, or what used to be your church,'' he said. ``It just doesn't sit well.''

The lawsuit follows months of skirmishes between the parish and the diocese, part of a wider dispute unfolding within the Episcopal Church nationwide related to the 2003 election of an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire and the church's blessing of same-sex unions.

At least 45 parishes across the country have left the Episcopal Church, and some that have continued to worship where they previously did have faced legal fights.

Trinity's members voted in January to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America and announced the parish's split from the Episcopal Church in May. The following month, Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith removed Helmandollar from ministry and informed Trinity that the diocese intended to take over the property July 8.

The lawsuit argues that Trinity held the church property in trust for the diocese, and that the parish and its members acknowledged Trinity's position as a subordinate, local unit of the diocese and Episcopal Church since it became part of the Episcopal Diocese in 1835. That acknowledgment included requesting permission from the diocese to sell property or borrow money for building construction, the lawsuit says.

By aligning with the Anglican convocation, which considers itself a mission of the conservative Anglican Church of Nigeria, Helmandollar and the vestry members lost the right to control Trinity's property, the lawsuit says.

Instead, the lawsuit alleges, Helmandollar and the vestry members used and converted the property for their own use, ``to the exclusion of The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Connecticut and loyal Episcopalians.''

The lawsuit says that property should instead be used by the Rev. Stanley Kemmerer, whom Smith appointed to lead Trinity and whom the lawsuit says is entitled by canon law to use the parish's property.

Helmandollar said his parish will argue that Trinity's property belonged to the Anglican Communion from the time the parish was established in 1746 and should remain that way.

Helmandollar said a broader dispute will play out over the coming months, centering on who is a member of the Anglican Communion. Although Trinity left the Episcopal Church, he said, the broader Anglican Communion will likely argue that the Episcopal Church is the one splitting from the worldwide Anglican church.

``The issues very quickly broaden beyond just property,'' he said.

Helmandollar said he would approve of handling the property issue through the legal system, but questioned the decision to sue individual vestry members, who are volunteers, instead of negotiating through lawyers. He said he fears that the diocese will try to bankrupt the parish with legal work, and he called the lawsuit a scare tactic.

A spokeswoman for the diocese said the diocese would not comment on pending litigation.

For now, Helmandollar said, the parish continues to operate as usual, albeit with a bit of angst. Nearly all of the parishioners who came before the split do so now.

``The people would like to get this behind them. They don't like being singled out in the manner in which they have,'' he said. ``They would much rather get on with worship and get on with church business, without having this sort of hanging over them.''